Suspect Arrested In Fatal Shooting On I-95

Informants And Witnesses Help Detectives

September 1, 2005|By Leon Fooksman Staff Writer and Staff Writer John CotM-i and Staff Researcher William Lucey contributed to this report.

Michael Reich's fatal mistake was getting his car caught between two other drivers who were speeding on Interstate 95 in Delray Beach, police said Wednesday.

Cut off initially by one of the drivers, Reich, 19, may have retaliated by cutting off the same driver, making a vulgar hand gesture and exchanging words with him as they drove alongside each other in the early hours of July 24, investigators said.

The other driver, Gillion Graham, 19, fired a handgun from his Infiniti into Reich's Ford Taurus, killing Reich and hitting his passenger, Barbara Wallace, in the feet as she slept, according to police.

Graham was arrested Tuesday night in Wichita, Kan. after investigators got reports that he had been in Georgia and Missouri.

The Jamaican native and former West Palm Beach resident was charged with second-degree murder with a firearm, aggravated battery with a firearm and shooting into an occupied vehicle. He agreed to be extradited to Palm Beach County and is expected to return today.

Graham denied shooting at Reich's car, investigators said.

Detectives were initially stumped by what led to the shooting since it occurred around 3:40 a.m. and they worried that no one, including Wallace, saw what happened. But eventual cooperation from witnesses, confidential informants, and two men charged with attacking police, possessing drugs and having at least one illegal gun in Georgia helped police track down Graham.

"It was a long-term and rather convoluted investigation," Delray Beach police spokesman Jeff Messer said. "It was a true whodunit."

Graham was accused of armed robbery in Delray Beach in 2004, but the charge was dropped because the lone witness also could have committed the crime, court records show.

The first break in the case happened a day after the shooting, when a woman driving behind Reich and Graham told police she saw Graham's Infiniti swerving next to Reich's Taurus and then drive off.

That helped investigators determine that an Infiniti had been stolen west of Boca Raton shortly before Reich's death. They suspected the car was connected to the shooting. The Infiniti was spotted in West Palm Beach two days after the shooting and chased into a Riviera Beach apartment complex, but the two men inside the car escaped.

Informants identified the men and detectives traced them to a jail in Henry County, Ga., where they were held on unrelated charges. The men helped police learn that there was another Infiniti linked to the shooting. Graham drove that car. The jailed men told detectives that Graham and the driver of the stolen Infiniti knew each other and headed north together in their Infinitis on I-95 just before Reich's shooting.

Somewhere between Palmetto Park Road and Linton Boulevard, Graham cut off Reich and the trouble began.

Three other people were inside Graham's car during the shooting, investigators determined. Police caught up to two of them and they named Graham as the shooter. A judge issued a warrant for his arrest. Detectives determined he was in Wichita with one of the people who had been in his car the night of the shooting.

Delray Beach, Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office and U.S. Marshals Service detectives and agents arrested Graham without incident.

"It was one of the best pieces of detective work I have ever seen," Delray Beach police Capt. Ralph Phillips said.

No one else has been charged in the shooting. Police are still looking for Graham's car and the gun.

Reich's father, Michael, said he was relieved to hear about Graham's arrest late Tuesday night, but he wasn't celebrating. He is still mourning a son who loved kayaking along the canals in his neighborhood west of Lantana and was planning to start his first serious job. As a tribute to his son, he plans to attend all of Graham's court hearings and push prosecutors for the maximum penalty.

"I know my son is smiling down today," he said.

Delray Beach detectives used Graham's arrest to highlight the importance of citizen cooperation. Three days after Reich's murder, Brandon Jones, 16, was fatally shot in the 100 block of Northwest Ninth Avenue. Police are looking for the killer and are asking for the same assistance.

Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Michael Miller at 561-243-7871.

Staff Writer John CotM-i and Staff Researcher William Lucey contributed to this report.

Leon Fooksman can be reached at lfooksman@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6647.